Peace-related books donated to library

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Fact Box

Peace Section

Grand Opening at 3 p.m.

Alpena County Library

Dinner at 5 p.m.

Grace Lutheran Church

RSVP for dinner: 354-6623

A selection of peace-related materials have been added to Alpena County Library's collections in memory of a women known as a strong force and inspiration for world peace in the Alpena community and beyond.

Sister Lisa Marie Lazio, who passed away Feb. 8, 2008, ran a city-wide peace vigil when the war in Iraq first started. A member of the Alpena Peace People Pax Christi since its inception, she presented a 30 Days of Peace concept to the group, then put her energy and effort into making it a local success.

Sister Lisa Marie was the recipient posthumously of the Helen Casey Award for Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, an award given through the state-level Pax Christi, the Catholic peace movement. A portion of the $500 award was used by members of the Alpena Peace Coalition to purchase the peace-related books for the library.

A special grand opening of this peace section will be celebrated July 8 at 3 p.m. at the library. Dinner will follow at 5 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, with reservations requested at 354-6623.

The open house event will feature St. Anne's Bell Choir, singing by Judy Case and a reflection by Rev. Owen Williams. The new books on peace-related topics also will be on display.

"This is a very fitting tribute to Sister Lisa Marie and the peace work that's been done here," said Alpena Peace Coalition representative Carol Skiba. "The award will be used as seed money for the book collection and to help with 30 Days of Peace to further the same type of spirit that Sister Lisa Marie displayed."

Sister Lisa Marie, age 72 at the time of her death, was an artist, musician, free spirit and intense lover of life, seeker of truth and preacher of God's wonders. She spent a period of her life teaching at Catholic Central High School in Alpena, and in her later years, chose to move back to the area.

Bringing together her spirituality and her art, Sister Lisa Marie founded the Dominican House of Blessings near Alpena several years ago as a place where others could get away for peace, quiet and a time of reflection. The grounds included woods, an art studio and a pond with a waterfall.

Laurie Trahan, also of the Alpena Peace Coalition, was among those who helped to gather books to donate to the library in Sister Lisa Marie's name. On a recent trip to Florida, she spent time with Sister Lisa Marie's family members going through her books and talking about what books would be important to include in the collection.

"Some of the books are from Sister Lisa Marie and some are from her family," Trahan said. "Each book will have a book plate inside the front cover indicating that it is part of the peace collection."

Library Director Eric Magness-Eubank said the books include a wide selection of the more significant figures in the peace and non-violence movement such as Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Deepak Chopra.

"It's not a big collection, but it is very representative of the ideas that were very important to Sister Lazio," Magness-Eubank said.

Books in the new peace collection will not be displayed in a separate space at the library, but will be shelved according to the Dewey decimal system. Because of the nature of the topics, the books are expected to be in close proximity to one another.